Download or read book Unmanned Intratheater Airlift written by Kevin J. McGowan and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Unmanned Intratheater Airlift written by Kevin J. Mcgowan and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-08-25 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent military engagements have seen a radical shift in adversary tactics. In addition to confronting traditional conventional forces, the US military now faces an increasing use of irregular warfare tactics to offset the US technological and operational advantages. Long, slow, and predictable supply convoys along overstretched lines of communication also tend to place US supplies and troops at significant risk. This is further complicated by a general lack of logistical infrastructure and increasing requirements for US forces to assume positions in isolated and rugged locations. The low likelihood of these trends changing in future engagements places the DOD in a difficult position. How do you increase cargo movement to isolated forward operating bases (FOB) in relatively inaccessible locations while maintaining secure lines of communication? Operational and budgetary limitations coupled with tooth-to-tail ratio, shrinking force sizes, increasing logistical requirements, and deployment footprint concerns require immediate solutions, even if finding them means searching outside the box. This challenge dictates a movement away from traditional resupply means and an accompanying paradigm and doctrinal shift. Advancements in technology, increased needs, and shrinking budgets present the DOD with both challenges and opportunities. Augmenting the current tactical airlift system with a modular autonomous and/or semiautonomous unmanned tactical airlift aircraft offers a flexible, responsive, and inexpensive solution that will increase airlift capacity, minimize carbon footprint, reduce risk to ground and airlift crews, and reduce wear and tear on manned assets. The movement of supplies and personnel within the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom areas of operation is currently extremely costly, hazardous, and inefficient. Frequent attacks against insecure lines of communication and difficult terrain have led to a constantly increasing tactical airlift requirement. As of September 2009, 75 percent of all troop locations in Afghanistan and Iraq required resupply by ground convoy, airdrop, or vertical takeoff- and-landing aircraft. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense (DOD) currently lacks the capability to fulfill all tactical airlift requests. This paper investigates the DOD's tactical logistical challenges and each service's tactical lift requirements, especially with respect to the movement of supplies from forward supply hubs to forward forces. To address these challenges and requirements, the author suggests the use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) as a potential solution. Focusing on existing and quickly emerging technologies as well as the joint operating requirements, the author proposes RPA performance and design characteristics along with a concept of employment that increases tactical lift capabilities and meets all current service requirements.
Download or read book A Framework for Enhancing Airlift Planning and Execution Capabilities Within the Joint Expeditionary Movement System written by Robert S. Tripp and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2006 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent operations have shed light on shortfalls in Air Force intratheater airlift. Using an expanded strategies-to-tasks framework, the authors assess current intratheater airlift processes, organizations, doctrine, training, and systems. This report catalogues identified shortfalls and recommends options for improving the Theater Distribution System. The authors recommend separation of supply, demand, and integrator roles and adoption of a closed-loop planning and execution process.
Download or read book The airship s potential for intertheater and intratheater airlift written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Commercial Intratheater Airlift written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intratheater airlift delivers critical and time-sensitive supplies, such as blood products for transfusions or repair parts for vehicles, to deployed forces. Traditionally, military aircraft have provided this airlift. However, for various reasons, in recent years a number of commercial carriers have provided a significant amount of airlift within U.S. Central Command. But was this more cost-effective than using organic U.S. Air Force aircraft? To explore this question, the authors collected historical (2009) U.S. Central Command data and created models to identify the most cost-effective combination of commercial and organic airlift to perform the required movements. The calculations needed to address differences in fixed and marginal costs across alternatives as well as the effects of price elasticities of demand for commercial airlift providers. Model optimization runs showed a preference for U.S. Air Force-organic aircraft but suggested that commercial alternatives should be retained to supplement Air Force aircraft for a small fraction of movements. The authors further observed that U.S. Central Command planners could have benefitted from more sophisticated decision support tools to make daily intratheater cargo-aircraft allocation decisions.
Download or read book Integrating Joint Intratheater Airlift Command and Control with the Needs of the Modular Army a Perspective of Current and Past Nonlinear Operation written by U S Army Command and General Staff Coll and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The command and control of today's intratheater airlift system, as seen in doctrine and in application, is complicated and conflicted. As the Army continues its transformation to the modular force, requirements for responsive and flexible intratheater airlift have grown. In contrast, existing Joint and Air Force intratheater airlift doctrine does not address these needs, as seen in recent operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Presented in this book are two historical case studies of past intratheater airlift efforts: Burma during World War II and the tactical airlift system of Vietnam. Both provide examples of distinct intratheater airlift command and control arrangements with similar attributes called for by Army transformation. Both case studies provide lessons in the application of theater airlift to support ground forces in a nonlinear battlefield. Coupled with identified failings in both doctrine and structure of the current theater distribution system, this book identifies requirements of theater airlift if it is to provide effective and efficient support to the modular force. With an understanding of current and past doctrine, structural evolutions of intratheater airlift, and the effects of each system, this book concludes with recommended changes to the intratheater airlift command and control structure to meet Army requirements.
Download or read book Tactical Unmanned Airlift A Business Case Study written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much literature has been published on unmanned aircraft in general, particularly on the roles these aircraft play in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) as well as attack. Less has been written on the use of unmanned aircraft in mobility roles. What has been written has been from the perspective of strategic airlift and air refueling. Virtually nothing has been published on unmanned tactical aircraft. The purpose of this study is to examine intratheater unmanned tactical airlift from an Air Force perspective. This is not a quantitative analysis, but rather an examination of the merits of unmanned tactical airlift as well as a recommendation of why, what, how, and when the Air Force should pursue such technology. Due to the lack of literature on this subject, the paper cannot be considered a formal case study. However, a thorough examination of the available literature is presented as well as research by other authors suggesting desirable characteristics for an unmanned tactical aircraft. In addition, barriers to implementation are examined and a potential way ahead for the Air Force is suggested as well.
Download or read book Unmanned Airlift How Should We Proceed written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1996, the U, S Air Force Scientific Advisory Board identified 22 missions that might be accomplished by UAVs. Of the identified missions, there have been many studies conducted on the use of UAVs for intelligence, surveillance, and even combat applications, but none have been completed about the use of UAVs for air mobility roles, either tanker or airlift aircraft. This study seeks to break new ground by trying to answer the question, "How should we proceed?" to make the concept of unmanned airlift a reality. To this end, this study provides a conceptual survey of the strategic need for unmanned airlift, it discusses how operational pressures on the National Aerospace System (NAS) are driving the advancement of automating technologies, and it shows how this drive toward automation is laying the foundation for unmanned airlift. Based upon this foundation, this paper will sketch a path to the future, identifying critical requirements, studies, and technologies that will help make unmanned airlift a reality.
Download or read book The Airship s Potential for Intertheater and Intratheater Airlift written by Donald E. Ryan and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper asserts there exists a dangerous GAP in US strategic intertheater transportation capabilities, propounds a model describing the GAP, and proposes a solution to the problem. Logistics requirements fall into three broad, overlapping categories: Immediate, Mid-Term, and Sustainment requirements. These categories commence and terminate at different times depending on the theater of operations, with Immediate being the most time sensitive and Sustainment the least. Using the Gulf War logistics flow as a model, the three phase points are shown and their airlift/sealift tradeoffs discussed. Other logistics support options, which figured in the war, such as prepositioning and host nation support, are discussed and the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations shown to be, in many ways, a fortuitous theater of operations. This serendipitous combination of circumstances contributed greatly to our successful logistics buildup and is unlikely to recur. The airship is recommended as a suitable solution to the Mid-Term strategic transportation di lemma (GAP). The fundamentals of airship operation. 11 are described, its history in both war and peace discussed, and some current private and military airship activities mentioned. Recent technological breakthroughs in materials technology are discussed and the potential for government-sponsored research and development yielding equally great propulsion and cargo capacity dividends explored. A discussion of the potential threat environment of the early twenty-first century shows the airship, properly constructed and used, would likely be no more vulnerable than jet air lifters while offering transportation capabilities currently unavailable. The airship's advantages as an inter/intratheater transporter are so great as to deserve further investigation for addition to the US strategic airlift fleet.
Download or read book Modifying Intratheater Airlift for Irregular Warfare written by Steven H. Stater and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intratheater airlift is an important aspect of Irregular Warfare. Dispersed operations involved in the many aspects of irregular warfare require the deployment, resupply, and redeployment and medical evacuation of forces to conduct these operations. As the personnel are spread over larger geographic areas, the ability to meet the needs of this force falls on intratheater airlift. This need for intratheater airlift to support irregular warfare is spelled out in Department of Defense, Air Force and Army doctrine. It is also has historical examples of supporting United States forces and host nation forces in Southeast Asia. This experience was not maintained and the Air Force has developed its current airlift force to support traditional warfare operations. The Air Force Special Operations Command is attacking the need for short takeoff and landing aircraft to support irregular warfare, but the general purpose forces are not responding to the need for a more varied airlift aircraft. The utility of using airlift for building partner capacity in aerospace operations has also been undersized. An airlift structure that supports U.S. irregular warfare operations should also support partner capacity with experienced aircrew and maintenance personnel with aircraft appropriate for the host nation.
Download or read book Integrating Joint Intratheater Airlift Command and Control with the Needs of the Modular Army A Perspective of Current and Past Nonlinear Operations written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The command and control of today's intratheater airlift system, as seen in doctrine and in application, is complicated and conflicted. As the Army continues its transformation to the modular force, requirements for responsive and flexible intratheater airlift have grown. In contrast, existing Joint and Air Force intratheater airlift doctrine does not address these needs, as seen in recent operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Presented in this thesis are two historical case studies of past intratheater airlift efforts: Burma during World War II and the tactical airlift system of Vietnam. Both provide examples of distinct intratheater airlift command and control arrangements with similar attributes called for by Army transformation. Both case studies provide lessons in the application of theater airlift to support ground forces in a nonlinear battlefield. Coupled with identified failings in both doctrine and structure of the current theater distribution system, this thesis identifies requirements of theater airlift if it is to provide effective and efficient support to the modular force. With an understanding of current and past doctrine, structural evolutions of intratheater airlift, and the effects of each system, this thesis concludes with recommended changes to the intratheater airlift command and control structure to meet Army requirements.
Download or read book The Airship s Potential For Intertheater And Intratheater Airlift U S Department Of Defense written by United States. Department of the Air Force and published by . This book was released on 1998* with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Keep on Trucking written by Nathan A. Allerheiligen and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "As the US Air Force (USAF) completes the drawdown from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the reduction of deployments and restructuring of budgets provide a rare opportunity to explore new intratheater employment models. There is potential to maximize the performance of intratheater airlift through the integration of an incentive-based entrepreneurial model for airlift scheduling, decision support, and process control. This paper considers three different distribution systems: the current military intratheater airlift system being executed by US Central Command (USCENTCOM); Walmart's domestic distribution network; and a hybrid system based upon the current intratheater airlift system, but altered to include entrepreneurial incentives and process improvements. Each system is illustrated by how it addresses each of five key factors: (1) incentives, (2) process management, (3) information technology support, (4) approval, validation, and prioritization of cargo, and (5) fleet balancing. The systems are analyzed along customer-focused parameters of responsiveness, flexibility, reliability, and efficiency. In the right circumstances, military leaders can apply natural market forces to military operations without sacrificing the oversight or control needed for emergency situations. Although there are significant cultural barriers to an entrepreneurial approach, the Air Force should develop a system that uses market incentives to improve the tools of the theater distribution system to maximize effectiveness while retaining high levels of efficiency."--Abstract.
Download or read book Launching the Workhorse Vertical Or Super Short Takeoff Capabilities for the Next Theater Airlift Aircraft written by Robert C Crown and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-06-28 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is an assessment of whether the US Air Force (USAF) should anticipate modernizing its core theater airlift fleet with aircraft designed for super-short takeoffs or landings under rough-field conditions (SSTOL-RF) or aircraft designs focused on vertical takeoffs or landings (VTOL) with secondary SSTOL-RF capabilities (V/SSTOL-RF). Several considerations speak to the timeliness of this issue. Most importantly, the ongoing evolution of USAF and Army (USA) war-fighting concepts increase their demand for mobility and sustainment support in quantities and places that the aircraft in the present airlift fleet cannot provide. Also, the present mainstay of the theater airlift fleet, the C-130, has been an inadequate platform for vital missions for decades. It is too small to link effectively and efficiently with large intertheater airlifters, such as the C-5, C-17, and civil reserve air fleet (CRAF) jumbo cargo aircraft at intermediate staging bases. Also, the C-130's runway requirements limit its ability to connect to battlefield airlift helicopters or deliver forces and sustainment at forward-most points of need and effect (PON/E) themselves. Intratheater airlift, consequently, is the weak link in the USAF's ability to provide a smooth flow of air and land combat forces and their sustainment in the early stages of conflicts and crises. Finally, although the USAF has not published a formal plan for theater airlift modernization, most officials interviewed for this study suggested sometime in the 2040s as the window for the next aircraft to appear. Given the experience of the C-17 program, which took 19 years to move from development contract to the first squadron reaching initial operational capability, a program aimed at putting a squadron of future theater airlifters on line by the middle 2040s should begin sometime in the early 2020s. As a contribution to conceptualizing the best path to a modern theater airlift fleet, then, this study will assess the SSTOL-RF and V/SSTOLRF design approaches in terms of their ability to fulfill critical USA and USAF requirements and their operational risk profiles.
Download or read book Unmanned Airlift a Viable Option for Meeting the Strategic Airlift Shortfall written by Chad T. Manske and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-08-25 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study on airlift, written before Operation Iraqi Freedom began, has greater relevance now that we have some clear lessons about the vital importance of airlift for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Unmanned Airlift: A Viable Option for Meeting the Strategic Airlift Shortfall, Lt Col Chad T. Manske points to the growing dependency on strategic airlift as well as the abiding corollary that there will continue to be a shortfall in strategic airlift. Quite naturally, he asked whether there might be a suitable role for unmanned airlift in the Air Force. To get to the analysis, Colonel Manske raised three crucial questions: (1) are operational requirements able to justify unmanned airlifters, (2) are current and emerging technologies likely to meet these potential operational requirements, and (3) are the operational concepts cost-effective? Unsurprisingly, the author found a paucity of operational requirements. The first step in applying new technology is to convince unified combatant commanders and defense planners of a viable potential. Generally, operational and combat planners think primarily about capabilities available in the present. In addition, a long history of unproven aircraft concepts translates to high reluctance by the DOD and senior military leaders to commit funds to programs that show little near-term prospects of success. Clear assurances are needed to invest in procurement and acquisition of these new systems and attendant capabilities. The author suggests that the current shortfall of aircrew, the evident progress in emerging unmanned aircraft technology, and the currently increasing funding of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research and development are all providing impetus to investigate the unmanned airlift concept. Colonel Manske thoughtfully provides an interesting scheme for employing these large vehicles using a monitoring mother ship to mitigate the very real problem of globally navigating in controlled airspace occupied by manned aircraft. He is also hopeful that air traffic management procedures will be upgraded to support autonomous UAV operations. Finally, the author has three suggestions for a DOD investigation: 1) Agents must perform a detailed cost-benefit analysis, learning best practices from Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems and UAV programs; 2) Charge Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency with the responsibility of determining the feasibility of concepts for unmanned airlift; and 3) Use war games to determine and establish a feasible concept of operations and employment.
Download or read book Dynamic Planning Under Uncertainty for Theater Airlift Operations written by Kiel Michael Martin and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this thesis, we analyze intratheater airlift operations, and propose methods to improve the planning process. The United States Air Mobility Command is responsible for the air component of the world wide U.S. military logistics network. Due to the current conflict in Iraq, a small cell within Air Mobility Command, known as Theater Direct Delivery, is responsible for supporting ongoing operations by assisting with intratheater airlift. We develop a mathematical programming approach to schedule airlift missions that pick up and deliver prioritized cargo within time windows. In our approach, we employ composite variables to represent entire missions and associated decisions, with each decision variable including information pertaining to the mission routing and scheduling, and assigned aircraft and cargo. We compare our optimization-based approach to one using a greedy heuristic that is representative of the current planning process. Using measures of efficiency and effectiveness, we evaluate and compare the performance of these different approaches. Finally, we adjust selected parameters of our model and measure the resulting changes in operating performance of our solutions, and the required computational effort to generate the solutions.
Download or read book Paradigm Lost written by David W. Allvin and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
